Mortgage rates for the past 52 weeks, at a glance (AP)

Skip to navigation ? Skip to content ? By The Associated Press The Associated Press ? Thu?Nov?3, 11:38?am?ET

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 4 percent this week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Four weeks ago, the average rate fell below 4 percent for the first time in history. Here's a look at rates for fixed and adjustable mortgages over the past 52 weeks.

Current week's average Last week's average 52-week high 52-week low

30-year fixed 4.00 4.10 5.05 3.94

15-year fixed 3.31 3.38 4.29 3.26

5-year adjustable 2.96 3.08 3.92 2.96

1-year adjustable 2.88 2.90 3.40 2.81

All values are in percentage points.

Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

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Copyright ? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111103/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mortgage_rates_glance

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Republican sexual harassment furor boosts Obama (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The longer the Republican presidential hopefuls battle over sexual harassment claims against Herman Cain, the better things look for President Barack Obama as he mounts his campaign for re-election.

Cain has been accused by at least three women of sexual harassment when he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the mid-1990s, claims that have been front and center in the Republican nomination race since the news web site Politico reported them on Sunday.

The rare instance of infighting in a party known for its unity comes just as Obama, a Democrat, is gaining some traction in opinion polls and the U.S. economy is showing signs of improvement.

"Obviously Team Obama wants the Republican field as large as possible for as long as possible," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said. "The more they duke it out, the more ammo Team Obama has going into the general election."

Cain said he is innocent of the claims and accused rival Rick Perry's camp of being behind the story, which Perry has denied.

The disputes between the Republicans come as opinion polls show voters are responding well to Obama's push for his jobs bill. A poll from Quinnipiac University this week showed that 47 percent of Americans approve of Obama's job performance, up six percentage points from early October.

There have also been signs that the U.S. economic recovery, expected to be the most important issue in the 2012 election, is on track. On Wednesday, data showed U.S. private employers added more jobs than expected last month, raising hopes that Friday's October unemployment report might show improvement from the September's 9.1 percent rate.

All of this is good for the Democrats, who have wisely stayed out of the controversy, keeping their campaign attacks on Romney, whom Cain replaced at the top of most polls.

"It's clouding the Republican message right now, so that's got to be good news for Democrats and they are quite wisely being very quiet about it," said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

"Napoleon I think said you never interfere with an enemy in the act of destroying himself."

WEAKENING CAIN

The furor has weakened the 65-year-old businessman Cain, who leads in polls of Republicans nationally and in Iowa, which holds the first nominating contest of 2012 on January 3. Cain has given conflicting accounts of whether the women received settlements, and shouted at reporters who demanded answers.

"It's devastating," said Democratic strategist Greg Haas, although he cautioned that Obama's team would not want the Republican field to narrow too quickly. "Our side has to watch and see that they don't create a situation where they end it fast."

The controversy is already an unwelcome distraction from efforts to find one strong contender to oppose Obama, two months before voting starts in the nomination process.

And longer term, it makes the Republicans look bad, while they should be preserving resources to battle Obama.

"The Republicans are trying to avoid a personal, protracted, difficult fight for the nomination. And this seems to be something that's pouring fuel on a smoldering fire inside the party," said Christopher Arterton, a professor at George Washington University who has been a Democratic consultant.

Cain's campaign said his supporters have rallied to his cause, giving him $1 million in donations as the controversy has raged. If his supporters remain convinced that Cain was treated poorly, and stay home during the general election, it could benefit Obama.

Cain is a favorite of the party's conservative Tea Party wing, which has not embraced Mitt Romney, the former governor of liberal Massachusetts whose conservative credentials are questioned by fiscal and social conservatives.

Arterton said Cain's supporters could decide not to vote or even back him in a third-party campaign if things stay ugly. "If Cain's polls go down and his people get very bitter about this, I think you could see the possibility of their deciding that they would mount a campaign in the fall," he said.

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Vicki Allen)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111104/pl_nm/us_usa_campaign_cain_obama

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Not Even a Presidential Visit Will Speed Up Stalled Infrastructure Projects (ABC News)

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Witness: Jackson's doctor didn't follow protocol (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Dr. Conrad Murray heard his own expert witness testify Monday that he wouldn't have accepted payment to do what Murray did for Michael Jackson ? administering a hospital anesthetic in the star's bedroom.

"I wouldn't even consider it," Dr. Paul White said. "It's something no amount of money could convince me to take on."

The use of the drug propofol to treat Jackson's insomnia was "a complete off-label use of the drug," he said. White also acknowledged that the drug should never be given outside a medical facility because of the need for proper lifesaving equipment.

White, a highly regarded and now-retired anesthesiologist, is sometimes referred to as "the father of propofol" for his early research on the drug. But on Monday he was a less than respected figure, drawing criticism from the prosecutor and censure from the judge who threatened to fine him $1,000 for contempt of court.

White came under a bruising cross-examination by prosecutor David Walgren who attacked the expert's recent claim that Jackson caused his own death. Walgren questioned White's scientific calculations and noted he once led the defense to think Jackson drank an extra dose of propofol.

White acknowledged he had done no research on that theory when he posed it. A study later showed the theory to be unsupportable, he said.

While stopping short of blaming Murray for the singer's death, White blurted out during cross-examination that he believed Murray had loaded a syringe with the drug propofol and left it where Jackson could have gained access to it.

That scenario had not been offered before and it could explain how a groggy Jackson could have awakened from sedation, grabbed the syringe and injected the drug into his IV line.

Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor told White outside the jury's presence to stop trying to sneak in references to private conversations he had with Murray. The witness had suggested his opinions were partially based on what Murray told him, but those talks are not in evidence.

At one point Monday, White said he had been told by Murray that Jackson had his own stash of propofol beyond the hundreds of bottles of the drug that Murray had purchased and shipped to his girlfriend's apartment. Pastor warned White not to try to bring up the conversations or other excluded information again.

"It's deliberate and I don't like it," Pastor said. "It's not going to happen again."

But by the end of the morning the judge said White had violated his order. Outside the jury's presence, he chastised the witness for telling the jurors at one point: "I'd like to talk to you about this but the judge told me I couldn't."

He said he considered that remark direct contempt of court but would allow White to explain at a contempt hearing on Nov. 16 before he imposes the $1,000 fine.

White was repeatedly questioned about the ways in which Murray had broken guidelines and rules governing the use of propofol. Walgren confronted the witness with excerpts from his own writings in textbooks which set down rules that Murray broke by administering the drug in Jackson's bedroom.

Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, has acknowledged he was giving Jackson doses of the anesthetic propofol in the singer's bedroom as a sleep aid. He told police that he left Jackson's room for two minutes on June 25, 2009, and returned to find the pop superstar unresponsive.

White said in forming his opinions, he assumed Murray was out of the room much longer, making phone calls.

The retired anesthesiologist also said he would not leave the room if he were treating a patient who had indicated he liked to inject propofol into himself, as Murray claims that Jackson had told him.

"Have you ever administered propofol in someone's bedroom?" Walgren asked.

"No, I have not," White replied.

"Have you ever heard of someone doing that prior to this case?" the prosecutor asked.

"No, I have not," White responded.

White said he has been paid $11,000 for his work for the defense so far.

White's testimony has put him at odds with his colleague and longtime friend, Dr. Steven Shafer, who testified for the prosecutor. Shafer said White's self-administration theory is not supported by the evidence in the case, in his view, and he called the theory "crazy" during his testimony earlier this month.

White and Shafer were colleagues at Stanford University and conducted research on propofol before it was approved for use in U.S. operating rooms in 1989. Both help edit a leading anesthesia journal. Until White's retirement last year, both were practicing anesthesiologists.

Shafer may be called as a rebuttal witness later in the trial, which is now in its sixth week.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

___

McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111031/ap_on_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

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VC Dollars Rise 84 Percent In China, As They Slide In Europe

As is abundantly clear from all the entrepreneurial activity on display at TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing, China is growing as a startup center. ?In the third quarter of 2011, $1.3 billion in venture capital poured into China, up 84 percent, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. At the same time, VC dollars slid 12 percent in Europe to almost exactly the same amount: 951 million Euros or $1.3 billion. ?(For comparison, U.S. VC dollars rose 29 percent to $8.4 billion in the third quarter). ? Are we at a crossroads where more venture capital will end up in China than in Europe?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/v6OffyJK0eM/

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Wall Street dives on European debt worries

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street took a tumble at Tuesday's opening bell after a surprise decision by the Greek Prime Minister to call a referendum.

By msnbc.com news services

Wall Street fell sharply Tuesday, following Europe?s major stock markets lower, after a proposed referendum in Greece threatened to overturn a European bailout plan to contain the region?s sovereign debt crisis.

Analysts said if Greek voters reject the unpopular bailout, it would result in a "hard default" by Greece, causing bigger losses for banks and raising the threat of systemic risk.

Greek Premier George Papandreou shocked global markets late Monday by announcing that he will put the nation's recent bailout deal through a referendum, potentially undoing last week's long-awaited agreement by EU leaders.

The news slammed European stocks, particularly the region's banks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell sharply at the start of trading and had lost as much as?321 points by mid-session. As stocks tumbled, a widely-watched gauge of investor fear, the VIX index, jumped some 25 percent, chalking up its biggest daily gain since mid-August.

U.S. stocks briefly pared losses after the leaders of Germany and France said they were determined to fully implement decisions made at the European Union Summit last week. Leaders of the big euro zone countries hastily arranged a crisis meeting with Papandreou on Wednesday in Cannes, a day before the start of a G20 summit.

"This was completely unanticipated," said John Canally investment strategist and economist for LPL Financial in Boston. "This vote in Greece is going to hang over the market for next week or so, unfortunately."

The Greek vote could potentially threaten a comprehensive plan to resolve the European debt crisis reached just last week in which euro zone leaders agreed that private holders of Greek bonds should take a 50 percent loss on their holdings.

Greece could potentially face bankruptcy if the population ends up voting against the EU?s latest financial aid package in a referendum, the chairman of the Eurogroup countries said.

Jean-Claude Juncker said Tuesday the referendum decision had piled ?great nervousness and insecurity? on top of an already highly insecure situation for the euro zone economy, telling RTL Radio:

?I cannot exclude that this would be the case, but it depends on how exactly the question is formulated and on what exactly the Greek people will vote on.? He added: ?It is something that brings a great nervousness, that adds great insecurity to already great insecurity and therefore we need to see calmly how we will deal with this.?

On Monday, U.S. market sentiment was already turning sour after U.S. brokerage firm MF Global filed for bankruptcy amid reports that it had bought too much bad European debt and fears over the public finances of Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy.

In Tuesday?s economic news, an industry report showed the pace of growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector unexpectedly slowed in October. As well as monitoring the turn of events in Europe, investors have a raft of economic news to digest this week, culminating in Friday's monthly jobs report.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/01/8578805-wall-street-dives-on-european-debt-worries

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Cain manages crisis with denial, humor, song (AP)

WASHINGTON ? It's one of the starkest tests of viability for any presidential candidate: crisis management, the ability to step past an explosive charge and re-direct the news. Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, a relative newcomer to national politics, had trouble passing Monday during a whirlwind of speeches and interviews in the shadow of sexual harassment allegations.

"I'll never know why Jesus came to love me so," Cain crooned at the invitation of the event's moderator in closing Monday's National Press Club appearance. "He looked beyond all my faults and saw my needs."

It was a dramatic counterpoint to the rest of Cain's day in Washington, which he largely spent denying that he had sexually harassed anyone and calling any such reports "a witch hunt."

Politico reported Sunday that the National Restaurant Association gave financial settlements to at least two female employees who worked for Cain and had accused him of inappropriate, sexually suggestive behavior when he headed the trade group.

Throughout the day Monday, Cain offered conflicting responses as to whether he remembered the specifics of the allegations or the existence of settlements with the women.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Cain was asked whether he was aware of the women's specific allegations. "Some of them," he responded.

But when pressed, he said was not aware of any of the allegations.

Later, in a series of television interviews, Cain said he remembered some details after all.

The revelations upended Cain's series of speeches and meetings with members of Congress designed to reassure the nation's rule makers that he is ready for public office. But the revelations also raised questions anew about his fitness ? and whether he can manage a crisis.

The former Godfather's Pizza chief executive confronted the situation rather than canceling his Washington schedule.

At the first event of the day, an appearance at the American Enterprise Institute, he announced that he'd address the issues later: "I will take all your arrows," Cain said.

He then went full denial in back-to-back appearances and refused to talk specifics, either on Fox News or at the National Press Club.

And, even amid new questions about the viability of his White House bid, he tried to argue that it was business as usual.

"What you can expect from my campaign is for me to stay on message, for us to continue to do the things and execute our strategy in order to win the nomination," he said.

His campaign, meanwhile, attacked Politico, whose story was based on anonymous sources and, in one case, what the publication said was a review of documentation that described the allegations and the resolution.

And Cain, himself, tried to employ humor.

"As a result of today's big news story, I really know what it feels like to be No. 1."

He also painted himself a victim.

"This bull's eye on my back has gotten bigger," Cain said. "We have no idea the source of this witch hunt."

And, finally, he invoked charm ? and the bigger picture.

"My faith is a big part of who Herman Cain is. It's a big part of how I made this decision. It is a big part of this journey that we're on," Cain said. Invited to sing, he agreed. "Since it's an opportunity for me to share a little bit of my faith, I will."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111101/ap_on_go_ot/us_cain_crisis_management

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